The Impact of Philosophers Western history has widely influenced and altered much of how society and government work to this day. The reason why different nations have widely different government systems and societal views dates back to the very beginning of time. One of the first influential time periods was the Renaissance, which birthed the Enlightenment, and so forth. Each time period held new philosophers that created new theories and ideologies that would change the way all people thought and understood how the world was supposed to work. Three of the most influential philosophers of all time were Niccolo Machiavelli of the Renaissance, John Locke of the Enlightenment, and Karl Marx of the 19th Century. These philosophers not only impacted
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While the Framers were creating the constitution, they made it so the government would not be able to use stealth as their main tactic, therefore avoiding the ideals of Machiavelli. They accomplished this by investing the power in the people, creating checks and balances, and implementing separation of powers. However, the Framers did use Machiavelli’s ideas when deciding where the power should lie (Perry). Machiavelli wrote in his Discourses on Livy, “…the government which has been organized will not last long if it rests on the shoulders of one man. However, it will do so if left to the care of many, provided that preserving it is something dear to their hearts.” He argued that a state built upon one man will die with that one man, but a nation built upon the people will continue to live on with the people (Perry). The Framers used this theory while building the government Americans live with to this …show more content…
Going through each century, anyone could find at least one person who stood out, who thought slightly different from the rest, who decided to speak up about what they believed in, and who did not just stand with the rest of the crowd. By just advocating their ideas, philosophers such as Niccolo Machiavelli, John Locke, and Karl Marx were able to utterly dumbfound the world. Hence altering millions of people’s opinions; thoroughly altering nation’s political, economic, and social systems. There is simply nothing more extraordinary, nor fascinating. Who will be the next person to speak up, step forward, and change the history of the
While the Framers were creating the constitution, they made it so the government would not be able to use stealth as their main tactic, therefore avoiding the ideals of Machiavelli. They accomplished this by investing the power in the people, creating checks and balances, and implementing separation of powers. However, the Framers did use Machiavelli’s ideas when deciding where the power should lie (Perry). Machiavelli wrote in his Discourses on Livy, “…the government which has been organized will not last long if it rests on the shoulders of one man. However, it will do so if left to the care of many, provided that preserving it is something dear to their hearts.” He argued that a state built upon one man will die with that one man, but a nation built upon the people will continue to live on with the people (Perry). The Framers used this theory while building the government Americans live with to this …show more content…
Going through each century, anyone could find at least one person who stood out, who thought slightly different from the rest, who decided to speak up about what they believed in, and who did not just stand with the rest of the crowd. By just advocating their ideas, philosophers such as Niccolo Machiavelli, John Locke, and Karl Marx were able to utterly dumbfound the world. Hence altering millions of people’s opinions; thoroughly altering nation’s political, economic, and social systems. There is simply nothing more extraordinary, nor fascinating. Who will be the next person to speak up, step forward, and change the history of the